infocobuild

Advanced Quantum Mechanics

Advanced Quantum Mechanics (Fall 2013, Standard Univ.). Taught by Professor Leonard Susskind, this course will explore the various types of quantum systems
that occur in nature, from harmonic oscillators to atoms and molecules, photons, and quantum fields. Students will learn what it means for an electron to be
a fermion and how that leads to the Pauli exclusion principle. They will also learn what it means for a photon to be a boson and how that allows us to build radios and
lasers. The strange phenomenon of quantum tunneling will lead to an understanding of how nuclei emit alpha particles and how the same effect predicts that cosmological space can "boil."
Finally, the course will delve into the world of quantum field theory and the relation between waves and particles.
(from theoreticalminimum.com)

Lecture 02 - Symmetry Groups and Degeneracy
Leonard Susskind presents an example of rotational symmetry and derives the angular momentum operator as the generator of this symmetry. He then presents the concept of degenerate states, and shows that any two symmetries that do not commute imply degeneracy.

Lecture 04 - Spin
Building on the previous discussion of atomic energy levels, Leonard Susskind demonstrates the origin of the concept of electron spin and the exclusion principle.

Lecture 05 - Fermions: A Tale of Two Minus Signs
Leonard Susskind introduces the spin statistics of Fermions and Bosons, and shows that a single complete rotation of a Fermion is not an identity operation, but rather induces a phase change that is detectable.